Nurseries praised for innovation

A nursery where children built a car out of old tyres and recycled wood is among the inaugural winners of a new awards scheme to boost the quality of childcare.

Other winners of the Scottish Government’s Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) Innovation Award include a nursery where children set up a café for parents and a nursery where children now grow their own food for lunch.

All six winning nurseries set up new creative experiences to challenge children and improve their social and language skills and self-confidence.

The six are:

• Clober Nursery, East Dunbartonshire
• Menstrie Nursery, Clackmannanshire
• Village Nursery, West Linton, Scottish Borders
• Bowhouse Early Learning and Childcare, Falkirk
• Treetop Family Nurture Centre, Fife
• Innerwick Early Years Setting, East Lothian.

All of the winning nurseries will receive £5,000 to further develop their innovative ideas.

Children’s Minister Maree Todd visited Clober Nursery and said:

“Every winning nursery has gone above and beyond to give their children outstanding opportunities to learn and develop.

“Staff have come up with amazingly creative and fun ways to develop children’s understanding of the world around them, with great results already for the children, their families and staff.

“As quality is at the heart of our expansion plans, the awards will showcase best practice and encourage nurseries to share success with each other.”

Louise McHugh, an ELC practitioner from Clober Nursery, said:

"Outdoor learning is an exciting and daily part of Clober Nursery. We strive to provide children with opportunities to learn and develop their risk-taking strategies, educate them to understand where food comes from as well as providing them with the opportunity to use their imagination with loose part play.  

“We are only at the beginning of our outdoor learning journey and we cannot wait to see where the children's investigations take us."